Although I started making music with brief band stints in the 90’s, my true career path really formed in 2001 with solo acoustic gigs.  When the Capitol Grille in Concord, NH was looking for a solo guitarist/singer for their weekends, I auditioned and was hired within the span of my first 3 songs.  The Grille, in addition to regular gigs at Shorty’s in Nashua and Manchester, NH as well as numerous private and semi-regular shows throughout southern NH, kept me busy and musical right up until I left for Colorado in summer 2006.  During those short 5 years, my repertoire developed from a decent 75 songs to nearly 400, and the Grille went from a modest pub to the hottest nightspot in NH’s capitol city.  To this day, when I return to NH to visit family I’m greeted by a capacity crowd at the Capitol Grille.  It’s really like a homecoming.  I love Colorado, but the Grille is where it all started for me, and the people there are so great.  That crowd has never forgotten me, and I will always be grateful to them for getting me where I am today.

Where I am today is Highlands Ranch, Colorado, and I am back making music.  My current schedule includes solo gigs (mostly at the Blue Canyon Bar and Grill in Golden...  Look for me on Friday nights) as well as band gigs with Mark Simpson and Rick DeLisle in the band Mother Lode.  In fact, the band, which I joined in November 2008, is what I spend most of my musical energy on.  We play most weekends in an assortment of venues, from the Baker Street chain all over the greater Denver area to Kermitt’s Roadhouse in Idaho Springs.  For more information on the band, click the Mother Lode link or visit www.motherlode.info.

With a song list that boasts a range from Patsy Cline to Soundgarden, and a voice and personality that somehow reconciles the apparent rift in such a diverse musical universe, I’m able to command a huge chunk of audience tastes.  And with a repertoire of considerable size, I can usually make good on most any request that comes my way:   I feel guilty when I have to turn down a request.  I always have.  That’s how my song list got so huge.  Somebody would request a song and I’d feel so guilty I’d say ‘sorry I can’t do that tonight…  How about next Friday?’  Then I’d go buy the CD or nowadays I can use iTunes, and I’d learn the song.  After doing that a bunch of times I found I was learning A LOT of new tunes, and the people would always come back to see if I made good on my promise.  Crowds got pretty big after awhile.

It also helps that my influences are all over the board.  I grew up listening to Pavarotti and Placido Domingo…  My Dad was big into opera.  He also loved Scottish and Irish folk music.  My Mom was really into John Denver and local folk artists, and she played a little guitar as well.  And somebody, I’m not sure which parent, was into Elton John’s first record.  When I was about 10, my brother Steven brought home some life-changing vinyl…  And it was all over.  Led Zeppelin II.   Heart’s “Little Queen” and Rush’s 2112.  Good God, when I heard Rush it was like I got hit with a ball-peen hammer.  I knew what I wanted to do from that point on.  Since then my music collection has expanded to include everything from the Allman Bros to Zappa.  People love my collection, and I have to admit I love seeing the reactions from some folks…  ‘Iron Maiden?!?!?!’ or ‘I never would have pegged you for a Willie Nelson fan’ or ‘who the heck is THAT???’  It’s pretty cool.

All of those influences add up to a pretty potent stew, performance-wise, and I try to mix it up nightly.  I never like to play the same stuff.  I get bored quickly, and when I get bored you can bet the audience will get bored.  I really try to keep it fresh for myself, but also for the audience; if there’s a certain vibe in the room I try to identify it and play on it.  The result is unpredictability, and that’s one of the things that sets me apart from a lot of other guys.